1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closure device for closing off, at least in part, a cavity of the pit or pool type that is open at its top, in particular for preventing falling into said cavity.
The invention relates more particularly to a closure device for closing off, at least in part, a cavity that is open at its top, said device comprising a set of panels suitable for forming a closure cover for closing off said cavity and cover support means making it possible to support said panels when said panels are deployed to form said closure cover.
The invention also provides an installation, in particular a vehicle repair installation, of the type comprising at least a cavity and a closure device of the above-mentioned type for closing off the opening of the cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices designed to close off inspection or work pits of the type used by mechanics for repairing vehicles while such pits are not being used are well known to persons skilled in the art.
Such a pit is formed by a cavity in the general shape of a rectangular trough that is sunk into the floor and that is of width less than the widths of the vehicles to be repaired, so that said vehicles can be positioned over the pit along its longitudinal axis. While they are not being used, and for evident safety reasons, the openings of such pits should be closed off. This is usually achieved by laying a series of panels, planks, or transverse beams across said pits, with the respective edge faces of the panels, planks, or beams being applied against one another so as to form a continuous cover surface over the entire length of the pit.
Putting such panels in place is tedious and unreliable. Starting from a stack of panels to be positioned, operators must adapt their working positions for each panel to be handled because the height of the stack decreases as the operator positions the panels along the opening of the pit. Operators must therefore stoop lower and lower in order to take hold of the panels with a view to positioning them along the opening or, conversely, stand up straighter and straighter in order to stack up the panels during an operation for uncovering the opening of the pit. In addition, the operator must move along the opening in order to position said panels. Such a solution therefore does not make it possible to close off and to open up the opening of the pit rapidly with a limited number of handling operations. Also, such solution does not make it possible to guarantee that said panels are put into place correctly.
Thus, with such a solution, operators must be continually changing their working positions, which is tedious and tiresome. In particular, such a solution does not enable the operator to maintain a given working position for stacking up and deploying said panels with a minimum amount of effort.
Closure devices are also known from the state of the art that are configured to enable that type of pit to be closed and opened automatically or semi-automatically. In particular, devices exist that comprise a metal curtain system mounted to slide in longitudinal rails and driven by motor-driven mechanisms.
By making provision for such closure devices to be motor-driven, the operations for closing off and for opening up the cavity can be made simple and effortless, but it has been observed that such a sliding metal curtain system associated with motor drive means is costly and unreliable, in particular for a metal curtain that is long. The motor drive of a long sliding curtain is subjected to major friction forces that are often accompanied by interfering forces caused by the imperfections of the device. Such a device equipped with a motor drive then might jam and become damaged.